(From left, Arash DeMaxi as Rizwan, Molly Kunz as Phoebe, Travina Springer as Kylie, Jocelyn Hudon as Camille Lawson and Jesse L. Martin as Alec Mercer in season one of The Irrational).
Martin plays the role of Alec Mercer, an internationally known behavioral psychology professor and expert. Mercer assists governments, corporations, and law enforcement organizations including the police or the Federal Bureau of Investigation to solve crime with his psychologically earned understanding of human nature. The Alec Mercer character is based in fair measure on Dan Ariely who, like Mercer, had been burned in an explosion.
(From left, Maahra Hill as FBI Special Agent Marisa Clark and Brian King as FBI Special Agent Jace Richards in season one of The Irrational).
A fair percentage of the opening season gets into sharing the residual feelings Mercer and his ex-wife FBI agent Marisa Clark share while pursuing the parties responsible for Mercer’s injuries. Alec’s younger sister, Kylie and graduate assistants Phoebe and Rizwan each have recurring roles through all eleven episodes of the series thus far. The group supports Alec in his personal life, his teaching career and the side work he has as a consultant. Marisa, Kylie, Phoebe and Rizwan were portrayed by Maahra Hill, Travina Springer, Molly Kunz and Arash DeMaxi, respectively.
(From left, Karen David as Rose Dinshaw and Jesse L. Martin as Alec Mercer in season one of The Irrational).
Alec supports this named group interpersonally and professionally as well. The recurring storyline around the parties responsible for Alec’s injuries, which includes bringing the responsible parties to justice, ties the storytelling that opened the season to a logical and satisfying end by season’s end; the personal cost this has for the romantic life of Marisa Clark cannot be understated. The undercurrent of where the professional lives of Phoebe, Rizwan and Kylie also are nicely addressed through the season as well. That the series maintained an episodic feel that is standard fair for network television was nicely balanced.
(From left, Arash DeMaxi as Rizwan, Molly Kunz as Phoebe, Jesse L. Martin as Alec Mercer and Ben Cotton as Wes Banning in season one of The Irrational).
The Irrational was renewed for a second season in November, which guarantees the show additional episodes into what my expectations suggest will be the fall of 2024. I rate the first season of The Irrational, as created by Arika Lisanne Mittman, at 3.75-stars on a scale of one-to-five.
(From left, Eliza Taylor as Hannah Carson and Raymond Lee as Ben Song in the second season of the rebooted Quantum Leap).
The second season begins with our leaper, Dr. Ben Song as portrayed by Raymond Lee, in what the story tells us is an immediate leap not home but into an Air Force cargo plane for the United States over Russia in the year 1978. Ben works through the leap without support from the Project Quantum Leap (PQL) team, wherein three years had passed, the team had been disbanded, Ben had been taken for dead and, finally, the nature of the relationships and support Ben could expect had changed since the 18th and final episode of the opening season of the rebooted Quantum Leap owing to the passage of three years since the spring 2023 concluding episode wherein hope had been given that Ben would leap home.
(From left, Caitlin Bassett as Addison Augustine, Nanrisa Lee as Jenn Chou and Mason Alexander Park as Ian Wright in the second season of the rebooted Quantum Leap).
Bringing the PQL team back together becomes the task at hand with the second episode, as begun in the first episode of the second season thanks to Ian Wright as portrayed by Mason Alexander Park. A bank robbery gone wrong in Tucson, Arizona forms the leap underpinning the urgency of the second episode. We learn that Ben’s fiancée and primary hologram through the opening season, Addison Augustine as portrayed by Caitlin Bassett, has a new love interest with influence in United States Army intelligence in bringing the PQL team back. Tom Westfall as portrayed by Peter Gadiot serves as Addison’s love interest.
(Ernie Hudson as Herbert ‘Magic’ Williams in the second season of the rebooted Quantum Leap).
With Jenn Chou as portrayed by Nanrisa Lee reinforcing her role as PQL head of security and knowing confidant for Ian, she questions Ian from this episode about Wright’s means for finding the leaping Ben, who’s having been taken for dead led to the PQL team being disbanded. Starlight, New Mexico in 1949 offers an initial leap into the subject of aliens and unidentified flying objects (UFOs) in the third episode of the second season. Ben encounters Hannah Carson on the leap in New Mexico, a waitress with above average intelligence portrayed by Eliza Taylor, for the first time. In the fourth leap of the season in Los Angeles, California (2000 for Ben before a separate leap to the same city in 1992), Herbert ‘Magic’ Williams as portrayed by Ernie Hudson introduces the PQL team to Tom Westfall.
(From left, Peter Gadiot as Tom Westfall and Alice Kremelberg as Rachel in the second season of the rebooted Quantum Leap).
Future leaps take Ben to Princeton, New Jersey in 1955, Middletowne, Massachusetts in 1692, Cairo, Egypt in 1961, Trenton, New Jersey in 1970, Mexico in 1953, Denver, Colorado in 1982, Baltimore, Maryland in 1974 and, finally, Sonoma County, California in 1976. With a love quadrangle of sorts being a recurring storyline through the season, the love shared by Ben and Addison is juxtaposed against Addison and Tom on one hand and Ben encountering Hannah on six different leaps across 27 years on the other. In short bursts, Hannah and Ben develop intense feelings across a lifetime of other experiences for Hannah. This notion of lifetime experiences underlines a significant plot development that includes recurring roles for Gideon Ridge as portrayed by James Frain and Jeffrey Nally as portrayed by Wyatt Parker. The Gideon Ridge storyline is further punctuated with storylines that include Ian Wright, Ian’s girlfriend Rachel, Jenn Chou and Herbert ‘Magic’ Williams. Alice Kremelberg reprised her role as Ian’s girlfriend for a second season.
(From left, Wyatt Parker as Jeffrey Nally and James Frain as Gideon Rydge in the second season of the rebooted Quantum Leap).
The manner of storytelling in the rebooted Quantum Leap sticks to the episodic perspective of the original 97 episodes over five seasons of the source Quantum Leap series. There is a bigger focus on the interpersonal relationships in the world external to the leaps, though the sense of righting wrongs and setting things up for the better remains true to the series. Another season for Quantum Leap hasn’t yet been announced, though my appreciation for the stories leads me to hope for an additional season. I grant 3.75-stars on a scale of one-to-five stars for the second season of the rebooted Quantum Leap.
(From left, Cara Bossom as Teresa and Clive Owen as Sam Spade in the AMCtelevision series Monsieur Spade).
The series establishes itself as both as a period piece (ostensibly 1963) coupled with a multiple-episode introduction to the people forming the circle and local color that will lead to the mystery that makes this a Sam Spade, film noir event. Beyond establishing Clive Owen as the center piece star of the series, introducing local vineyard owner and Spade‘s romantic love interest Gabrielle, as portrayed by Chiara Mastroianni, humanizes the former detective presented as intelligent, selectively engaging and what I take for introverted.
(From left, Denis Ménochet as Chief of Police Patrice Michaud and Frank Williams as Maurice Michaud in the television series Monsieur Spade from AMC).
The opening episode lays significant ground for the mystery by placing Spade at a local convent, making payments to the sisters in support of child resident Teresa. Teresa, portrayed by Ella Feraud as a young child and Cara Bossom as a teenager, plays a crucial role from that convent to circumstances for Spade, Philippe Saint Andre as portrayed by Jonathan Zaccaï, and drama that rises in relevance as the character of the community of Bozouls reveals itself. The shocking circumstances that end the opening episode of Monsieur Spade take at least three episodes to be placed against differing threads before explanations begin to reveal themselves.
(From left, Jonathan Zaccaï as Philippe Saint Andre and Chiara Mastroianni as Gabrielle in Monsieur Spade, the AMCtelevision series).
Threads introduced to offer depth to the mystery of the season include the ongoing investigation of the police, including brothers Patrice Michaud and Maurice Michaud, as portrayed by Denis Ménochet and Frank Williams. There is the complicated relationship of Jean-Pierre Devereaux and Marguerite (Peggy) Devereaux, who deal in the Algerian War effort. Stanley Weber and Louise Bourgoin portrayed Jean-Pierre and Marguerite, respectively.
(From left, Louise Bourgoin as Marguerite (Peggy) Devereaux and Stanley Weber as Jean-Pierre Devereaux in the AMC series Monsieur Spade).
Cynthia Fitzsimmons and George Fitzsimmons, as portrayed by Rebecca Root and Matthew Beard, offer a sense of comic relief to ultimately serious roles as what outward appearances suggest are mother and son. The pair serve as neighbors sticking close to the Sam Spade residence in the current day, inserting themselves as nosy mischief-makers into the comings and goings on their neighbors’ property.
(From left, Rebecca Root as Cynthia Fitzsimmons and Matthew Beard as George Fitzsimmons in the television series Monsieur Spade).
The revelation and action of the final pair of episodes for the season gives legitimate meaning and substance to these threads, including those of Gazala/Nun Angélique as portrayed by Inès Melab, Henri Thibaut as portrayed by Oscar Lesage, Zayd as portrayed by Ismaël Berqouch and Samir as portrayed by Hazem Hammad. The acting throughout this series was strong, especially the opening episode and the concluding two episodes. Writing for the series rests with Tom Fontana and Scott Frank, based on characters written by Dashiell Hammett.
(From left, Hazem Hammad as Samir and Ismaël Berqouch as Zayd in Monsieur Spade, a television series by AMC).
This six-episode season works thematically, episodically and from a subject matter perspective as a cable and/or streaming television program. The resolution to certain characters, the setting as a period show, and the nudity across multiple episodes make this something that would not work on network television. The setting of background through the second, third and fourth episode, while important in the setting of character, might have worked better with two fewer characters along with at least one fewer episode for the season. Given the quality of the acting, though, I grant season one of Monsieur Spade 4.0-stars on a scale of 1-to-5.
Released January 13, 1969, the album Yellow Submarine by The Beatles turns 55-years-young this very day. We remember and celebrate Yellow Submarine with this look at the music created by John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, with a tip of the hat to George Martin for contributing to the scores that accompany that movie that accompanied this album.
(The album cover for the Yellow Submarine album by The Beatles).
Paul McCartney wrote the majority of the song Yellow Submarine, which opens the Yellow Submarine album. McCartney is quoted here as saying in 1966 that a yellow submarine is meant as a place where “all the kids went to have fun.”
(Album cover for the double A-side single Yellow Submarine, which was released in support of the album Revolver by The Beatles).
George Harrison called his composition Only a Northern Song “A joke relating to Liverpool, the Holy City in the North of England,” as quoted here. The city Liverpool is located in the northwest of England.
All Together Now is described here as a “simple sing-along song that took only five hours of studio time to complete.” Paul McCartney with John Lennon get writing credits for this largely upbeat song.
(All Together Now was released as a single in 1972 in European countries such as France and Germany, backed by Hey Bulldog).
Hey Bulldog started with a different title, though as quoted here “Paul [McCartney] barked at the end and made John Lennon laugh. They kept in the barking and changed the title, even though there is no mention of a bulldog in the verses or chorus.” John Lennon with Paul McCartney get writing credits for this tune.
(From the year preceding the Yellow Submarine album release in 1969, pictured from left are George Harrison, Paul McCartney, John Lennon and Ringo Starr).
It’s All Too Much was written by George Harrison. As quoted here, the song “was inspired by his wife, Pattie [Boyd].” This song is about the strong feelings of love that overwhelm him.
As quoted here, All You Need is Love was played by The Beatles “for the first time on the “Our World” project, the first worldwide TV special.” The song has an “easy to understand message of love and peace. The song was easy to play, the words easy to remember and it encompassed the feeling of the world’s youth.” The message made it worth adding to the Yellow Submarine (1968) movie as well as this album.
(All You Need is Love was released as a single in 1967, prior to the release of the Yellow Submarine album).
Matt Lynn Digital is taking this opportunity of the year end to look back at the last year in book reviews, movie reviews, music reviews and television reviews. We will look at these individual categories, one per day through Sunday. We begin today by looking into the television reviews offered by Matt Lynn Digital in 2023.
(Timothy Olyphant stars in the television series Justified).
With the best rating of 4.75-stars on a scale of 1-to-5 given to just one show this year, the leader in our viewing pleasure in 2023 was season four of the television seriesJustified (2010-2015). Multiple storylines contributed to a strong season, with the relationship between Arlo and Rayland Givens holding particular relevance to the larger series narrative.
(Bob Odenkirk returns to a more comedic role as he stars in Lucky Hank).
(Titus Welliver reprises his role in the continuing series Bosch).
The fifth season of the show Bosch (2014-2021) along with the second season of the reimagined Perry Mason (2020- ) earned 4.25-stars in rounding out the best television that we viewed in 2023. Both shows get into season long explorations of individual cases. Granting an edge to Bosch might simply be a matter of being further into the series at the current time.
(Aaron Paul starred as Jesse Pinkman in El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie).
El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie (2019) offered us a 3.75-star movie rating as a postscript to the Breaking Bad (2008-2013) series as reviewed by Matt Lynn Digital in 2022. Learning what became of the Jesse Pinkman character was an interesting and needed piece of viewing for the series.
(Christie Burkestarred in the opening season of The Ark).
Science Fiction and affairs of state proved to be in play for 2023 as the opening season of The Ark (2023- ) along with season three and season four of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan (2018-2023) earned 3.5-star ratings for us. The third season of the Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan proved the stronger season of the pair for us, though neither could supplant the intriguing concept of The Ark that will have us coming back for another season.
(Christoph Waltz starred in the opening season of The Consultant).
Season one of The Consultant (2023- ) earned a 3.25-star rating as our lowest rated show for the year. The concept of the show brings out the strong sense of horror intended with source material that itself struggled, in my opinion. The performance of Christoph Waltz, as strong as it was, simply was not strong enough in our opinion to recommend that you watch this series.
Matt Lynn Digital appreciates your continued interest in the content we offer. Should you have programs that you’d like us to review, please be sure to let us know.
A fourth and final season of Amazon Prime Original SeriesTom Clancy’s Jack Ryan (2018-2023) was presented to fans of the series starring John Krasinski as Dr. Jack Ryan over this past summer. Reprising characters from a series of best-selling “thrillers with detailed themes of espionage, military, science, politics and technology” (Biography.Com) written by Tom Clancy, Jack Ryan was central to many of those books while aim for the same things. Here’s our reviews of season one, season two and season three of the series, with the final 6-episode season review of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan presented as follows.
(Betty Gabriel as Elizabeth Wright in season four of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan).
The murder of Nigeria‘s President Udo in his home opens the mysterious conditions at the heart of the story this season. Jack Ryan, having ascended to deputy director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) alongside new acting director Elizabeth Wright, is called upon to defend what looks to the oversight committee to be CIA involvement in the death. Ryan offers this along with the promise for he and Wright, as portrayed by Betty Gabriel, to clean-up the perceived overreach and corruption within the agency. Former CIA director Thomas Miller, as portrayed by John Schwab, is immediately suspected.
(From left, Michael Peña as Domingo Chavez and John Krasinski as Dr. Jack Ryan in season four of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan).
The consolidated power of a drug cartel, a terrorist organization and the Central Intelligence Agency had been formed into an organization with seemingly unchecked power to function against the interests of the United States for the aims of profit-making and causing chaos through murderous and symbolic ends. James Greer, Mike November and newcomer Domingo Chavez are enlisted in the direct support of intervening against the people bent on the evil ends. Greer, November and Chavez were portrayed by Wendell Pierce, Michael Kelly and Michael Peña, respectively.
(Wendell Pierce as James Greer in Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan).
Chavez is added aiding the original consolidated CIA mission in Mexico when a plot connected to Chao Fah, as portrayed by Louis Ozawa, leads to Myanmar. Jack, Chavez, and November investigate a Dubrobvnik, Croatia lead while James Greer is elevated to deputy director in an effort to keep Jack’s value as an agent both in play and from tarnishing Elizabeth Wright’s congressional hearing for removing the acting tag from her role as deputy director. Okieriete Onaodowan portrayed Adebayo ‘Ade’ Osoji, a U.S.-based oil lobbyist with special knowledge of the Nigerian political climate, unfolds as a mystery for Wright to puzzle out through this season.
(From left, Louis Ozawa as Chao Fah and Michael Kelly as Mike November in season four of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan).
Abbie Cornish reprises her role as Dr. Cathy Mueller, with her value to Jack through his transition with the Central Intelligence Agency something that seems to have emerged off-screen between season’s three and four. This romantic link pays off with the further relationship developed with Zeyara Lemos as portrayed by Zuleikha Robinson, whose outcome and purpose played into motives that were distinctly unromantic.
I found the fourth season of this series entertaining. The point-of-view mixed the notions of heroism and mystery well without getting overly preachy on the political or social messaging. Overall, I grant season four of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan 3.5-stars on a scale of 1-to-5.
Some six-years following the end of the Breaking Bad (2008-2013)television series, series creator Vince Gilligan gave fans of the series something that had been missing from the end of the original show. That something was a clear telling of what happened to character Aaron Paul‘s Jesse Pinkman, the student criminal to aid Bryan Cranston‘s Walter White in the building of the Heisenberg drug syndicate. The Vince Gilligan written and directed movie El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie (2019) puzzles out that story for us.
(From left, Aaron Paul as Jesse Pinkman and Jonathan Banks as Mike Ehrmantraut in the Vince Gilligan movie El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie).
The ability to leave his past, his captors and law enforcement behind is the goal placed in front of Jesse Pinkman from the outset of El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie. Beginning with a flashback to the immediate point that Mike Ehrmantraut and Jesse leave the crystal meth business of Walter White, we see the framing of this movie with the question for where Jesse should flea. Mike, portrayed by Jonathan Banks, advises against making amends for the past with the further suggestion to head for Alaska to make a new beginning.
(From left, Charles Baker as Skinny Pete and Matt Jones as Brandon ‘Badger’ Mayhew in the Vince Gilligan movie El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie).
In the present day, we see Jesse fleeing to the Albuquerque, New Mexico home of Brandon ‘Badger’ Mayhew and Skinny Pete, as respectively portrayed by Matt Jones and Charles Baker. Hiding the ChevroletEl Camino of Todd Alquist that Jesse fled his captors in, Jesse first is given the chance to sleep, shower and recover in the immediate aftermath of his captivity. Devising a plan to make it appear that Jesse would flea in Pete’s FordThunderbird while actually making an escape in Badger’s PontiacFiero, Badger heads south towards Mexico in the Thunderbird while Skinny Pete stays with the LoJacked El Camino. Meanwhile, Jesse makes his way in the Fiero. Jesse Plemons portrayed Todd Alquist.
(From left, Aaron Paul as Jesse Pinkman and Jesse Plemons as Todd Alquist in the Vince Gilligan movie El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie).
Told largely through flashback, we are at first presented to Todd Alquist’s apartment in an odd twist. Alquist actually springs Jesse from the duty of captivity and crystal meth production to address a uniquely personal situation that grew out of Alquist’s need to stash the money earned in the drug business. Addressing that distasteful business gives Jesse the knowledge that a large quantity of money will be stored at the apartment; knowledge of Alquist’s busybody neighbor Lou Schanzer becomes the secondary important knowledge piece that comes into play later when Jesse comes into contact with Neil Kandy and Casey. Tom Bower portrayed Lou Schanzer.
(From left, Scott MacArthur as Neil Kandy and Scott Shepherd as Casey in the Vince Gilligan movie El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie).
As the notion that nothing comes easy or with zero cost proved itself useful to the storytelling of Breaking Bad, the intersections of the Neil Kandy and Casey tales in Jesse’s desire to flea is perhaps the most clever and consistent to that style of any story within El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie. Neil and Casey, portrayed by Scott MacArthur and Scott Shepherd respectively, dovetail into the Ed Galbraith story quite nicely as necessary plot point in Jesse’s fleeing the greater Albuquerque area and Painted Desert, Arizona area. These storylines offer the creative tension and, ultimately, resolution to Jesse’s story that were arguably owed to the viewers of the original Breaking Bad series. Robert Forster portrayed Ed Galbraith.
(Robert Forster as Ed Galbraith in the Vince Gilligan movie El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie).
Shoutouts to individual characters from the original series, including asides, callouts, imaginings or subtle references to Walter White, Diane Pinkman as portrayed by Tess Harper, Adam Pinkman as portrayed by Michael Bofshever, Jane Margolis as portrayed by Krysten Ritter and Brock Cantillo as portrayed by Ian Posada, were all nice touches. I give Breaking Bad as written and directed by Vince Gilligan 3.75-stars on a scale of 1-to-5.
The Michael Connelly character Hieronymus (Harry) Bosch first premiered in a series of books begun in 1992. As this is written, the character has led to 24 distinct books and two distinct television shows. We focus here on the fifth season of the series Bosch (2014-2021), starring Titus Welliver in the title role. This season is based on Michael Connelly‘s book Two Kinds of Truth.
(From left, Chris Vance as Dalton Walsh and Titus Welliver as Harry Bosch in season 5 of the Amazon original series Bosch).
Season five of Bosch picks up fifteen months after season four, with the dust having settled from the Elias case led by Harry Bosch, the exemplary accomplishment of having solved a case with ingenuity for Detectives Moore and Johnson, Eleanor Wish’s murder and its aftermath, and finally some firm knowledge underpinning precisely why Harry Bosch‘s mother in fact died. The season quickly moves past this into a pharmacy murder by men in masks pitted next to the review of an old case from early in Bosch‘s career. The case, investigated by Chief Irvin Irving and Harry Bosch, could raise uncomfortable questions about several closed should things go badly. The late Lance Reddick portrayed Irving.
(From left, Jacqueline Pinol as Detective Julie Espinosa and Jamie Hector as Jerry Edgar in season 5 of the Amazon original series Bosch).
The old case up for a review leads Bosch to hire attorney Honey Chandler, the attorney opposing Bosch‘s professional interests in the season 4 Elias case, to defend him against charges of planting evidence. Hector Bonner does much of the investigation on Bosh’s behalf. Meanwhile, Maddie Bosch is working in the Los Angeles Police Department through the summer, with an interesting balance for her between loyalty to her father, personality traits of her mother, and potential romantic feelings budding through the season. Mimi Rogers portrayed Chandler as Ryan Hurst portrayed Bonner.
(From left, Gregory Scott Cummins as Detective Crate Moore and Troy Evans as Detective Barrel Johnson in season 5 of the Amazon original series Bosch).
An interesting side story, as Bosch investigates the pharmacy murder turned pill mill undercover case with Jerry Edgar, becomes the ongoing story of the age of partner detectives Crate Moore and Barrel Johnson, as portrayed by Gregory Scott Cummins and Troy Evans. The response the two had to a crime in progress made a situation worse, led to a punishment for the detectives, and in the process created a headache for Lieutenant Grace Billets. Billets, as portrayed by Amy Aquino, work to defend Johnson and Moore while the two uncover an unethical yet real world practice of reporting borderline felony crimes as misdemeanors to improve the departmental records.
(Madison Lintz as Maddie Bosch in season 5 of the Amazon original series Bosch).
This headache for Billets happens in parallel to the pill mill case that sees Harry Bosch lose contact with Jerry Edgar. This off the books methodology functions well outside the chain-of-command, with Billets sticking her neck out in not escalating this up the chain when she first catches wind of the judgment calls that would be sure to ruffle the feathers of Chief Irving, who has been managing his involvement with the Christina Henry investigation of Bosch, oversite of impropriety by police in their manner of contact with the public, and a further recommendation that he, Irving, consider a run for mayor. Bianca Kajlich portrayed Henry.
(From left, Amy Aquino as Lieutenant Grace Billets and Scott Klace as Sergeant John Mankiewicz in season 5 of the Amazon original series Bosch).
The ninth and tenth episodes of this ten-episode season were the best of this season, which originally released in 2019. The truth underpinning the individual characters continued to be spot on to the truths that had come before, while giving us new developments and character paths that help me wish to keep on coming back. I give season five of Bosch 4.25-stars on a scale of 1-to-5.
Having taken our first three looks into the FX television series Justified (2010-2015) back as early as 2019 with looks into seasons one, two and three, we resume our look today with season four of the Graham Yost created series. The fourth season originally aired from January through April of 2013, with Harlan, Kentucky being the center of our dysfunctional criminal series based in action and drama. Season four was the final season with novelist Elmore Leonard, whose story Fire in the Hole and other works provided source material for the series, still alive.
(From left, Timothy Olyphant as Raylan Givens, Walton Goggins as Boyd Crowder and Jim Beaver as Sheriff Shelby Parlow in the fourth season of the FX series Justified).
The fourth season balanced multiple storylines effectively, with series centerpieces Raylan Givens, Boyd Crowder, Ava Crowder and Art Mullen playing their parts with less prominence at points through the season. The prominence of other characters through the course of the season offered compelling storytelling while, by season’s end, delivering top notch drama including series regulars that really deliver.
Looming heavy through the season is the notion of reckoning with who characters really are. The notion starts with fallout for the murder of Delroy Baker from season three. Tangled up in this story is that of Ellen May, a prostitute with a complicated story tied to Ava and Boyd Crowder’s connection to Delroy’s death. Colton ‘Colt’ Rhodes story is heavily tied to Ellen May and the Crowders, overlapping with the past impulses of Boyd with the introduction of the ministry of Billy St. Cyr and Cassie St. Cyr. The decisive roles Tim Gutterson and Johnny Crowder offer in Colt’s story work really well on a human level. David Meunier portrayed Johnny Crowder.
(From left, Nick Searcy as Art Mullen, Jacob Pitts as Tim Gutterson and Erica Tazel as Rachel Brooks in season four of the FX series Justified).
Then there is the story of Drew Thompson, which in learning of of the hidden identity and the loyalty surrounding the protection of it, forms the central mystery for the season. The fates of Hunter Mosely and Arlo Givens gently weaving into this larger story, intersecting well with Raylan, lends strength to what attracted me to this season of Justified.
(From left, Abby Miller as Ellen May, Raymond J. Barry as Arlo Givens and Brent Sexton as Former Sheriff Hunter Mosley in the fourth season of the FX series Justified).
The Jody Adair, Randall Kusik and Lindsey Salazar introductory stories in the earlier episodes of the season, featuring Chris Chalk, Robert Baker and Jenn Lyon, respectively, set important groundwork in furthering the story of season four well. Giving us evidence that the two sides of Raylan Givens were tugging at him, with the story of being a law enforcement officer getting set against Raylan’s sense of family, professionalism, and the influences of his parents, parallels and points to a similar dynamic playing out for Ava and Boyd Crowder.
(From left, Mykelti Williamson as Ellstin Limehouse and Joelle Carter as Ava Crowder in the fourth season of the FX series Justified).
The ramping up of Ava Crowder’s involvement in Boyd’s heroin empire in Harlan brings together sense of family and loyalty, which in tying back to Ellen May, the Delroy Baker death, the church attempts of the St. Cyr siblings, and a road that brings in Ellstin Limehouse through Detroit, Michigan and the past of Drew Thompson, gives so many glorious layers of connection that I cannot help to love season four of Justified. The Michigan angle of course renews the stories of Wynn Duffy, Nicky Augustine and their sponsors in Theo and Sammy Tonin. While we do not see Alan Arkin nor William Mapother in their roles as Theo Tonin or Delroy Baker this season, we do see Max Perlich as Sammy Tonin at a crucial time in the revelation of Raylan Givens’ character.
(From left, Mike O’Malley as Nicky Augustine, Jere Burns as Wynn Duffy and Patton Oswalt as Constable Bob Sweeney in season four of the FX series Justified).
Notably, the stories of Rachel Brooks and Art Mullen were not offered revelation through this season in the way that stories for other characters were. We did get back in contact with Winona Hawkins, as portrayed by Natalie Zea, later in the season. To say that Brooks, Mullen or Hawkins were afterthoughts for this season is perhaps an overstatement for what was a strong season of revelation and meaningful ends for characters new and old. I give season four of Justified 4.75-stars on a scale of one-to-five.
(From left, Michael Epp as Russian scientist Yuri Bashkin and John Krasinski as Jack Ryan in season three of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan).
This season invokes the threat of a nuclear conflict thanks to a secret 1969 project in what had been the U.S.S.R., otherwise called the Soviet Union. Soviet officer Luka Gocharov orders the end of project Sokol in a heinous slaughter of the scientists responsible for the project at the hands of the military. With the aid Zoya Ivanova, Jack Ryan receives a tip that the program has been resurrected under Russian guidance with the suspected object of detonating the weapon. A sophisticated attempt to build actionable intelligence takes Jack to a cargo ship where a scientist on the relaunched project is pursued with Ryan in Athens, Greece. James Cosmo portrayed Gocharov as Ana Ularu portrayed Ivanova.
(From left, Adam Vacula as Radek Breza as Alena Kovac’s body guard and Nina Hoss as Czech president Alena Kovac in the third season of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan).
As this is happening, president of Czechia Alena Kovac meets publicly with the Russian defense minister, the last of which being when the defense minister shot dead in Prague. Alexei Petrov ascends to power as the new defense minister with plans of escalating the profile of Russia back to the world power Russia had been when a prominent part in the former Soviet Union. Unknown to most of the relevant power players as the season unfolds, the father of the Czech president (Petr Kovac) is working with Petrov toward similar ends as the new defense minister. Nina Hoss, Peter Guinness and Alexej Manvelov portrayed Alena Kovac, Petr Kovac and Alexei Petrov, respectively.
(From left, James Cosmo as Luka Gocharov, Alexej Manvelov as Alexei Petrov and Peter Guinness as Petr Kovac in season three of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan).
At the center of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) response includes Jack seeking support from James Greer, former Chief of Station in Moscow, and Chief of Station for Rome, Italy, Elizabeth Wright. The dynamic takes an interesting trajectory over the course of the season, with power plays built interpersonally and professionally taking turns that impact the plays available to Jack Ryan in the field. Ryan reaches out to Michael November, as portrayed by Michael Kelly, introducing a separate dynamic at play between Wright and Greer. Wendell Pierce and Betty Gabriel portrayed James Greer and Elizabeth Pierce, respectively.
(From left, Betty Gabriel as Elizabeth Wright, Chief of Station Rome, and Wendell Pierce as James Greer in the third season of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan).
From the storytelling perspective, the best thing for me with the third season of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan is that the story took what felt like a storyline distinct from the Tom Clancy books that I have read. While a nuclear device in fact was a central storyline for a major book in the Jack Ryan book, this book went in a distinct direction. I found this series entertaining, though felt echoes of the television series 24 (2001-2010) and The Bourne Series (2002-2012) of movies when watching this season. Overall, I grant season three of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan 3.5-stars on a scale of 1-to-5.
Matt Lynn Digital 